Albahia Hotel

My daughter and I booked a last minute break to top up our tans. We choose Easyjet because we could choose how many nights we stayed and weren't confined to 7 or 14 nights offered with a package holiday.
The Albahia Hotel is about a 10 minute bus ride out of Alicante and my heart sank when I saw it. It was like a 1970's tower block (as were all the other buildings in the area), reached by walking down a steep crumbling pathway from the busy main road.
To be fair the Hotel wasn't as bad on the inside, the reception was small and basic and the staff were efficient and pleasant and our booking was in order. We were given directions to our room which was on the ground floor, two floors down from the reception and was at the end of a very long corridor which had no windows and resembled what I thought the inside of a prison might look like.
The room itself wasn't too bad, small, dark, and basic but clean. The bathroom was quite nice. Our window looked out onto a cliff face so very little light got into the room, couldn't even see the sky!
The maid cleaned every day and changed towels and even bed sheets which was a pleasant surprise as we were there for only three nights. The back door of the hotel led directly out a dirty paved desolate area which reeked of cat pee!! That night we discovered why - loads of cats!
The view along the coast was the most depressing I have ever seen - shabby decaying concrete tower blocks covered in graffiti and crumbling dirty pathways. We had to take the bus into Alicante to eat and shop and find a decent beach. I wasn't impressed by the City either.
I'm not a grumbler by nature and put up with a lot as we always book last minute and quite often go allocation on arrival, but this was my first time on mainland Spain and definitely my last!!

Had a week in Alicante and it was fabulous. Outside this hotel is a marvellous beach with fresh clear water and white sand, a limited choice of eating establishments but very good food with competitive prices and more than anything choice.
It was good to be with local people as well who were very kind and friendly, and very supportive as my Spanish was very basic!
However the only complaint we had unfortunately was the Albahia hotel. At 6.30 each morning from our room, we could hear the staff above us setting the tables for breakfast, moving things around and shouting at each other, then when guests arrived at 7.30 it sounded as though we were at a fairground. Nightmare.
After having spoken to reception, which were very sympathetic and helpful we exchanged rooms, but we could still hear from the second floor all the rushing around in the morning and throughout the week were rudely awaken and constantly interrupted.
We decided to go half board a good way to save money we thought. But had to spend more by eating out often than planned. Hotel mealtimes were terrible. Food was cold and uncooked, un- presented with no choice and everything came with chips! Which in a foreign country I would have expected to be introduced to a choice of regional food.
All the cold food was warm even the ice cream. Service was terrible, and we had to put up with very rude waiters, they clearly hated their work and had no people skills at all.
I would NOT recommend this hotel, to anyone. I wouldn’t give this hotel any stars at all! I will not be rushing back here. But will be sure to visit Alicante again in a more pleasant hotel.